Our Social Security funds go elsewhere

Every year, every employer and employee “gives” the federal government 12.4 percent tax on the first $118,500 of an individual’s annual wages. The worker pays half and the employee pays half of the required tax payment.

That tax, like all taxes, continue to go up with less coming back to those who contributed and retired. What a way to make money on the backs of working Americans who had no say in the taxation without representation move by some higher up in Washington.

Well, Social Security recipients will receive a “gigantic” 0.3 percent monthly increase next year. Guess what? You probably already know. That small increase of just under $4 will not go far despite lower gasoline prices, while medicine and medical costs go up.

This “great news” will affect 70 million people, nearly 1 in 5 Americans. The average monthly Social Security payment is $1,238. When a raise comes, even for working people, Uncle Sam holds out his hand and takes more.

Medicare Part B premiums, usually deducted from Social Security benefits, will take a piece of the Social Security pie, leaving recipients with less than before.

The past eight years, since 2008, the cost-of-living adjustment has been above 2 percent only one time, that was in 2011. It’s been zero three times.

And the paying Americans who followed the law have been the losers, while government leaders in Washington have nothing to worry about with their retirement plan and little or no contributions to the Social Security tangled mess.